Lucky lotto store is swamped

PUNTERS are queuing up at Britain's luckiest lotto shop in the hope of winning a £150 million Euro jackpot. PUNTERS are queuing up at Britain's luckiest lotto shop in the hope of winning a £150 million Euro jackpot.

PUNTERS are queuing up at Britain's luckiest lotto shop in the hope of winning a £150 million Euro jackpot.

Lotto fever is sweeping the nation ahead of tonight's EuroMillions draw which could see the biggest-ever win.

Sales of tickets for the draw are up 1000 per cent and operators Camelot are expecting a late surge in demand today. Staff at J & J General Stores on Oldham Road, Failsworth - which became famous for selling £10 million in prize winning tickets in the space of seven months - say they have been swamped by extra customers.

Store owner Ramesh Patel said: "Customers are in a mad rush to buy lottery tickets, we've been very busy. People know our reputation and come here hoping for the best."

The £150m booty will be the world's biggest single lottery payout if only one player wins. If a single winner put the jackpot in a savings account with a rate of 6 per cent they could earn well over £16,000 a day.

Roll-over

The EuroMillions jackpot has not been won since November 11 and cannot "roll" after February 10. If no-one wins the jackpot it will be distributed among winners in the next prize tier.

Amanda Turner, who works at the J & J store said: "We get a lot of people coming in saying `I'll get my ticket here, since you're the lucky shop', though the luck hasn't rubbed off on me yet, I don't even win the odd tenner."

Last year, Dolores McNamara, of Limerick, Ireland, won £79m playing EuroMillions.

The game, which is played in Britain, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, France, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland, costs £1.50 to play and the draw takes place in Paris at 9.30pm.

The results can be seen on digital channel Challenge TV and on the National Lottery website. To win players have to match five main numbers from one to 50 plus two "Lucky Star" numbers from one to nine.

A National Lottery official said: "If one UK ticket-holder wins the EuroMillions jackpot they will be guaranteed a place in the current Sunday Times Rich List as the 458th richest person in Britain - equal to Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne."